March 17, 2014: John Chapter 10

The Gospel According to John Chapter 10

Originally posted Wednesday, April 16, 2008

General Comment: John's masterful use of a variety of literary styles has provided a number of evocative metaphors that bring to mind images through which we can see or internalize some defining characteristic of Jesus. We have read four examples of these images: "Word made Flesh;" "I am the light of the world;" "I am the Bread of Life;" and "I AM." Chapter ten will provide another - but not the last. Metaphors are transparencies that allow us to peer into a reality beyond our usual way of thinking. To some extent they may be understood as mini parables that capture our imagination and draw us into their space and out of our own. The common words of light, bread and I AM, when associated with Jesus become windows through which we "see" another realm. The window works in both directions. What we see as we contemplate the image approaches us and becomes that Holy presence. In a single moment we are face to face, the human addressed by the divine in words only the soul can comprehend.

John Chapter 10:1-21 The Good Shepherd

Of all the images by which Jesus' character and relationship with followers is known, the Good Shepherd is probably the most portrayed in contemporary art. The "Good Shepherd" has been used as the name of many churches and was a descriptive term used in the early church for Simon Peter and later for church religious leaders. In this passage John explores the model of the Shepherd using the Old Testament image of God as the Shepherd of Israel (Ps. 23; Isa. 40:11; Ezk. 34:11-16). Jesus as the Good Shepherd is compared to and replaces those who have failed to attend to the sheep and have dealt badly with them, leading them astray.

John begins unfolding the model of the Good Shepherd at the sheepfold, a corral of sorts with a rectangular wall made of stones or brick. The walls were topped with briars to keep the sheep from jumping out, dogs and wolves from jumping in. Those (false shepherds) who climb over the wall are nothing but bandits and thieves (words used by Jesus to describe the Temple leadership). The true shepherd enters by the sheep gate, opened by the gatekeeper. The shepherd calls the sheep by name, leads them out and walks ahead of them (sheep were often given individual nicknames; the hired hand would walk behind the flock). The voice of the true shepherd is known by the sheep and they follow him, but they will run away at the voice of a stranger.

Jesus is the gate through which the sheep enter the sheepfold (in place of a real gate, the shepherd would lie down across the entrance as protection for the sheep). Those who enter through him receive life. Those who came before, and the false shepherds who  now appear - the thieves and the bandits, come to steal, kill and destroy (Temple priests, false messiahs and prophets).

Jesus is the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep, not like the hired hand who runs away at the first sign of danger leaving the sheep defenseless. This is not Jesus' only flock. There are others (Ezk. 34:12-13) who will listen to his voice (Gentiles) and he will bring them in so that there will be one flock (the church) and one shepherd (Jesus). He lays down his life for all of them.

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John has fashioned this passage first and foremost from Jesus' own experience of gathering the forgotten and detested sheep of Israel. These were the crowds of marginalized people rejected by the Pharisaic brand of righteousness and austere elitism of the priests. They were seeking God, hopeful of the Kingdom but hopeless in the possibility of gaining entrance. He became their shepherd. They heard his voice as one sent by God and in whom God was in their midst. It was for these that Jesus gave up his life for there was no other shepherd who would love them as did he.

John also used these words to speak as the evangelist to the community of Gentiles in Ephesus (and beyond). They too were being called by this Good Shepherd who wishes to gather them to be part of the one flock in the one sheepfold, the Church. Today we are one flock scattered around the globe in many sheepfolds. But there is still only one Shepherd. We must listen carefully for his voice amid the clamor of many suitors.

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John Chapter 10:22-42 Rejection

John moves us from the festival of Tabernacles to the festival of the Dedication (Hanukkah) held annually on the 25th of Chislev (November-December 2nd Macc. 1:9). The festival was for the rededication of the Great Altar of Holocausts and the Temple. During the Maccabean rebellion the Syrians had occupied the Temple for three years (167-164 BCE). A statue of Baal Shamem (the Greek Zeus) was erected on the Altar and pagan worship was held within the sanctuary (the Abominable desolation of Dan. 9:27). When the Syrians were driven out the Temple was cleansed and a new Altar constructed. The festival was a annual rededication of the Altar as well as the Temple.

Jesus is walking in the Portico of Solomon, a covered, columned porch that surrounded the Temple Precincts. It was open on the inside to the Precincts, closed on the outside. A group of "the Jews" gathered around him insisting he tell them once and for all if he is the Messiah. He has told them - in so many words, but they do not believe (in him as the one sent by God). He has shown them with the works he has done in the Father's name but they do not believe. They do not belong to his sheep. He has given eternal life to his sheep and they will never perish. The Father has given the sheep to him and no one can take them away for "The Father and I are one" (in a unity of power and purpose Jesus does nothing on his own, only what he sees God doing, saying what he hears God saying). The "Jews" misunderstand his words and prepare to stone him, hearing as blasphemy that Jesus was making himself God.

Jesus counters with a reference to Psalm 82:6 which is part of a criticism of the unjust Judges of Israel. These judges, appointed by Moses, acquired a situational "divinity of function" as sons of God. When someone appeared before a judge it was as if appearing before God since the Law says judgment belongs to God (Deut. 1:9-18). The judge, as with a prophet, received the word of God in their application of judgment in cases brought before them. Jesus likens the "Jews" who want to stone him to these unjust judges who have not acted as commanded. The argument is that the Psalmist calls these quasi-divine judges "sons of God." If such unjust judges can bear the title as a "son of God" and were understood to have shared, however limited, in divinity (of function), then how much more should Jesus, who has been sanctified and sent by God to do God's works, be deserving of being called the Son of God. If Jesus is not doing God's works then he isn't to be believed. But if he is then these unjust judges who want to stone him without even a hearing should believe the works he is doing as God's works. Then they would conclude, Jesus says, that the Father is in him (abiding) and he is in the Father.

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That Jesus and God are one is an important foundation of Christianity in general and our belief in particular. The language is pre-Trinitarian (a doctrine composed approximately 230 years later than John) and metaphorical. As a creedal statement we are drawn to the understanding that in Jesus we as Christians find the revelation of the mind of God to the degree that Jesus portrayed it in his words and deeds and to the degree that our minds can comprehend it. Our commitment is to the God we know to be present in Jesus. Our discipleship is informed and guided by Jesus in full faith that this guidance is not just his own but that of the God who sent him. In this and in so many other ways Jesus is the Good Shepherd.